Senior forward Marche’ Amerson had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists in the Cougars’ win. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar
Following a tough loss in the home opener against Long Beach State University, the women’s basketball team returned to action Sunday afternoon. It earned a hard-fought 52-51 victory over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns for their first win of the season.
The Cougars improve to 1-2 on the season while the Ragin’ Cajuns fall to 2-1, following a back-and-forth contest that saw nine lead changes, including four in the last 10 minutes.
After falling behind 51-49 with 2:09 left in the game, senior forward Marche’ Amerson hit a go-ahead, three-pointer with 1:53 to play giving Houston a 52-51 win.
Amerson added 10 points for the Cougars on 4-9 shooting with two rebounds and two assists, putting her 116 points shy of 1,000 career points.
Freshman guard Serithia Hawkins had her breakout game as a Cougar, leading the team with 14 points on 4-7 shooting, 3-4 from beyond the arc and added seven rebounds and one assist.
Hawkins was on a tear right off the bat, putting up 11 points and going 3-3 on three-pointers in the first half.
The Ragin’ Cajuns got out to a quick start, going 6-15 in the first period en route to a 15-7 lead, but couldn’t keep up the pace as the Cougar defense held them to 12 points in the second period and took a 30-27 lead heading into halftime.
ULL was able to retake the lead in the third, as it took a 43-40 lead into the fourth before a three from Mariah Mitchell tied it at 43 — 8 seconds into the quarter.
The Cougars continued to have turnovers, giving the ball away 20 times in the contest but were able to handily outrebound the Ragin’ Cajuns 33-26 and forced them into 18 fouls while shooting 70 percent from the line.
The Cougars will be back in action with three straight games in the Lone Star Showcase in Austin, with the first game coming against George Washington University on Thanksgiving. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 pm.
